Vecino — Restaurant in Detroit

Went here for my birthday and was unfortunately was very disappointed. The food was good but service was horrible. In the beginning of the experience, I was patient when my waiter did not approach me and my boyfriend to take our orders, we literally watched him talk to other staff members and check on other tables... he did not approach us until another staff Member came over and asked if we needed any help. We got our first two entrées and they were pretty good…all went downhill when we ordered the steak, started to eat it and then ordered a side of salsa to go with it. After asking for the salsa my boyfriend realized there was a hair in the dish when I informed the waiter he said he was going to see what he could do and spoke with another staff member and we watched them pointed out the hair to one of the chefs. We waited then the waiter delivered the salsa We ordered to go with the steak ( mind you at this point there is no food on the table… just salsa), he mentioned again that they were going to figure out what they can do. He left and then came over AGAIN and asked how much of the meal we ate to which I had no answer to because they had taken our plate over five-seven minutes before then. Which in general is such a strange question to be asked. I should have known at this point we were going to be treated as if we put the hair in the food… After that, no one said anything to me or my boyfriend and continuously walked past us, at least 10-15 minutes passed and we were ignored until another staff member caught eyes with me and asked if I needed something.....That's when a woman my waiter talked to about the hair came up and said that I was already being taken care of and informed us that we were waiting for a manager. Which would've been nice to be informed of before they had us waiting and ignored getting back with us. Literally walking past us not saying ANYTHING. We then had to have waited over 15 minutes for someone to come over. Assuming this was a manager, she walked up and just dropped a dessert menu on our table and asked us to look it over to order dessert. We both looked at her super confused. No one had said anything about the hair or our meal, apologized, or even offered to remake the steak because we had a hair in it. After I looked at her, she then said she took the steak off of our bill. I also asked if the salsa can be taken off because we were not given the opportunity to have it with our steak meal. She checked on that then came back and then tried to walk away and said to let a waiter know if we want dessert to which I replied to her asking for the bill. I've never experienced an issue like this at any restaurant before, it was very obvious we were being pushed out because we weren't even offered the conversation about ordering something new or different as if we were somehow scamming them for having a piece of hair in our food. To not even be asked if we want to order something else is absolutely insane. To have a so-called manager approach the table and just drop down a dessert menu as if we were not in the middle of our dinner before it was ruined with a hair is outrageous and disrespectful.. to ask us how much we ate off of a plate that had hair on...It really gave me the impression that they were treating us like we were scamming them, especially after not offering us the opportunity to order something else. we are used to fine dining and would not ever have to lie about a hair over a $50 steak…never in my life Have I had an experience like this. We would have had a new steak made or ordered something else and paid full price for everything despite their nasty ass hair in our food. And may be still would've ordered dessert as we usually do. After talking with some other people who work at popular establishments in the city, it was very obvious that they just wanted to push us out. Never again and we made sure to let others know about this experience. I truly felt racially discriminated against, it was so obvious that they were treating us like we did...

EDIT: Less than 24 hours after leaving the review, the owner of Vecino reached out to me to apologize for my experience and offered to have us come back to try it again. I was very appreciative for this offer and impressed with how quickly someone reached out. Will update my review after trying it again.

This was a pretty terrible and extremely disappointing experience. My wife had gone previously and had a “magical” experience, saying it was the best meal she had ever eaten in Detroit, so I was very excited to try what all the fuss was about. I went in having high expectations and unfortunately, the only thing that met those expectations was the ambiance/design and our drinks. The food and service fell well short. Our server was nervous and scattered and didn’t make us feel welcomed or oriented to the menu or restaurant. We both liked our drinks but the food was just meh at best. The guacamole was standard - nothing special - but then I bit down on the hard tip of an avocado which made its way into the dish. Not good. The molote was globby and chewy, though the red sauce was tasty. Unfortunately a sever whisked away the plate the molote was served on with the extra sauce before I could say no, as I was hoping to put the extra red sauce on other dishes. Then our server gave me a new personal plate even after I asked him not to (I wanted to keep the remaining red sauce that was on my plate) because he said he “had already set up the new plate and utensils.” The mole was completely inedible and the low point of our experience. It tasted horrible. The chicken was fine, but for $58, it should be better than fine. Compared to last time, my wife said nothing tasted nearly as good. She loved the mole last time and agreed it was inedible this time. When the server asked if we wanted him to box up the mole to take home - we hadn’t eaten any of it - we told him it did not taste good. He didn’t apologize at all or take it off the bill. We also saw the kitchen staff getting reamed out by what looked like a manger, while we were sitting there. All in all, if our meal cost us $80, maybe it would be a 3 star review, but with a bill that came to $180, I expect far better than what we received. It’s a one star in my mind. My wife and I both felt sad that we had just spent way too much money on pretty bad food and weird, uninviting service. Would not try this place again or recommend it given our experience. What a disappointment compared to my wife’s...

Edit: I had one of the best dining experiences at Vecino. Originally I had a bit of an off experience the first time I went. The owner reached out to me personally and invited me back.

First, the food was amazing (although that was always true), but it tasted even better than when I had previously been. The highlights were the steak, boy choy, and tres leches. I went with a friend and we both agreed it was one of the best meals we had in a while.

What I really appreciated when I went back was the attentive of the waitress. I also noted that the service seemed to be great at the other tables, so I didn’t feel like it was something that was just happening to me after being invited back.

I am so excited to go back now and really appreciate the personal effort the owner took to make it a great experience!

Original: I want to start off by saying there were some really delicious flavors, and I hope this place succeeds.

The primary problem I had with Vecino was the service which seems consistent with some other reviews. *I should preface this by saying the restaurant was less 40% full (relevant to the review).

Within less than a minute of sitting down, the server was already asking what we wanted to drink, and we told him we needed some time. Every minute or two, he would come back and ask our drink order. So finally, after the third time, we felt pressured and just ordered some random cocktails from the front page of the drink list.

He then immediately asks what we want to eat, but we tell him we haven’t even had a chance to look at the food menu yet. He comes back again a minute later, and again, we said we needed more time. After that, he doesn’t come back for another 20ish minutes. So in the first ten minutes, he came to our table 5 times and then was nowhere be found for the following 20 minutes.

When our food came out, we got maybe 5 minutes to enjoy it and then every 2-3 minutes, our waiter and other staff in the restaurant are trying to grab our plates that still had food on them. Keep in mind, the restaurant is over half empty and is hours away from closing, so there was no reason to rush.

Cherry on top was that without saying a word, the server just took my cocktail at one point (that I was still drinking), and then a minute later comes back asking if I want another drink???

Vecino has potential but the service made the whole experience feel very...